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WHEREAS, 2014 marks the fourteenth year that The Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild/CWA 38061 and the Pittsburgh Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have joined forces to "satirize Pittsburgh for a good cause" with their creation and performance of Off The Record, and;
WHEREAS, the show is in the admirable tradition pioneered by such others as the old Press Club Shows and Don Brockett's "Forbidden Pittsburgh" revues, usually also starring Barbara Russell, and was created and written for the first twelve years by Post-Gazette reporter and wit Gary Rotstein and produced by theater critic Chris Rawson, who, at dire risk to his mental health still continues to produce it in this fourteenth year, even though Mr. Rotstein has handed the writing over to younger Post-Gazette colleagues, Bill Toland and Dan Majors, and;
WHEREAS, for the previous thirteen years more than 150 Pittsburgh professional actors, celebrities, politicians, reporters and other rank hams have done their stuff on page and stage to write and perform this annual musical satire, which benefits various local charities, raising nearly $350,000 for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank while also contributing toward the Newspaper Guild and SAG-AFTRA scholarship funds, and;
WHEREAS, over the years, Off The Record has drawn on the stage contributions of many, such as County Commissioner Dan Onorato, former Mayors Tom Murphy, Bob O'Connor and Sophie Masloff, and Council Members Natalia Rudiak and Doug Shields, and Off The Record XIV has the temerity to include in this year's cast several actual members of Pittsburgh's City Council, an august body whose actions and personnel are always above the possibility of comic commentary, and;
WHEREAS, Director, Gregory Lehane, music director Camille Villalpando Rolla, stage manager extraordinaire Jessica Haidet, choreographer Christine Laitta, visual artist Liz Gray, costumer Annette Ferrieri and many, many others continue to direct, cajole, wrangle and support the work of dozens of performers, and;
WHEREAS, Off The Record XIV relies this year mainly on such skilled performers as Bob Turano, Wali Jamal, John Shepard, Christine Laitta, Samantha Bennett, Don DiGiulio, Tressa Glover, Jonathan Berry, Brian Corey, Michael E. Moats, Kim El, Dereck Walton, Chuck Timbers, Paul Greeno, Billy Hepfinger, Cheryl El-Walker, and many more, plus such media folks as KDKA's Jon Delano, and again features as emcee KDKA's Ken Rice and as guest "prebuttalist," who will be given a chance to launch his own preemptive comic attack on the media, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and;
WHEREAS, Off The Record XIV is called, "Mysteries of Pittsburgh!" and will turn many a famous fictional sleuth loose on Pittsburgh's many mysteries, real and imagined, to the joy of its audience at the Byham Theater on Thursday, October 9 at 8:00 p.m., with a lobby party starting at 6:30, complete with a cash bar, which should be appealing to citizens and politicians alike.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare October 9, 2014 to be "Off The Record Day" in the City of Pittsburgh, and thereby confers on all those associated with said Off The Record XIV all the extensive rights and privileges that such an honorific has traditionally conferred, including the right to continue to make Pittsburgh a healthier place to live by generating laughter aimed at people in power.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council hereby declares Thursday, October 9, 2014, "Off The Record Day" in the City of Pittsburgh.